The Chemical Process of Happily Ever After
by Alduin's Bane
Summary: I'd chose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd choose you. -The Chaos of Stars. A collection of one-shots revolving around [TadaHoney]
1. The Discovery

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. All rights belong to Disney.

Tadashi regarded himself to be a decent person. He was finishing his PhD in SFIT so that he can be a professor. He just recently succeeded in marketing Baymax to the national hospital of the country and now they're producing personal healthcare companions all over the nation, even importing overseas to less fortunate nations that are often struck by calamity disasters. His current goal was updating Baymax's features. Hiro finished his undergraduate degree just last year and is now the youngest person to ever hold an executive position in the Department of Technology and Science in the government. It was a good life so far for Tadashi Hamada, he was a good guy. But he could never comprehend why his wife seemed so unhappy with him recently. Unhappy with everyone, really. Just mostly at her husband.

Honey Lemon was known to be SFIT's very own ray of sunshine. Always energetic and sweet, she'd light up the whole place if she could. He still recalled the first time they met as freshmen in a great big university. She flittering around in her lab and nervously asked him if he could dip his finger in a beaker of torrid black chemicals. On a normal circumstance, a rational person would decline such a crazy idea but he really wanted to be friends with her. He got out with a whole hand (it just turned the liquid to the colour of his skin) and a budding friendship. Tadashi always wondered what a gaping hole his life would've been if he refused to dip his finger in that beaker. He was so thankful that he did. They were friends for a long time before they finally acknowledged their feelings for one another. And after 2 years of courting, with the help of the discovery of stringless bungee jumping, a ring, and his trusty friends, he popped the question.

And she said yes.

That was 6 months ago. Most people would chastise a couple for getting married straight out of college, but they knew they were ready for this. Why prolong the happily ever after?

He was currently coding information into Baymax's motherboard. He looked over to the other side of his lab to find Honey asleep, wrapped up in his jacket. He was grateful that she finally got a wink of sleep. She's been restless recently, tossing and turning at night rendering him sleepless as well. They end up cooking noodles at 2am in the morning while watching reruns of Breaking Bad. He wasn't the only one who noticed this change in behaviour. There was a time wherein they were eating out for sushi and Honey saw that Wasabi left out his wasabi (he never ate it since spilling it on his shirt in first year). She got the whole chunk and placed it directly on her mouth. They all stared at her incredulously. She then drowned a whole bottle of water and dubbed it as an exciting experience.

Another peculiar happening was when Fred was telling them about his childhood, particularly his relationship with his dad. It was a funny story really, as Fred always handled things lightly. He was telling them about the time he first learned how to ride a bike and how his dad added a propeller in the back to keep him balanced. He then discovered at 16 that he never really learned how to ride on his own. They laughed, but Honey started sobbing. "That's so sweet!" she cried as Tadashi put an arm around her, giving her a weird look.

At home, she was extremely moody. One time she'd be cuddly and affectionate then suddenly she'd berate him for something he wasn't aware of. There was a time when he made salad for them knowing she loves having healthy food once and a while. He approached their bedroom intending on making her breakfast in bed. When she woke up and saw the dish she cried and asked him if he thought of her to be getting fat.

Honey stirred in her seat, waking up from her cat nap. She saw Tadashi furiously typing code after code in his computer. She noticed his suit wrapped around her and took a whiff. She always loved his scent, a unique musk of new paper and coffee. She rolled her seat towards him and hugged him from the back.

"I was hoping you'd wake to see this." he pecked her forehead. "I'm almost done with the new features." he smiled. "I call dibs for the test run. I'm not feeling quite well." she sighed. Tadashi swirled around and faced her. "Really?" He felt her forehead to see if she had a fever. He pulled her towards him and placed her on his lap. "Honey, what's wrong?" he cuddled her close. She tucked her head in the crook of his neck, a habit she picked up since dating. "I'm sort of feeling nauseous and light headed. I think it's my crash phase after coffee binging from that experiment yesterday."

He rubbed her back soothingly. This was a perfect opportunity to test out Baymax again to see if he can detect malfunction due to non-harmful substances. He slowly spun his chair to avoid any further nausea for his wife. "Hold on, just a few more codes and we'll test him out." He felt Honey's lashes close against his neck. He leaned his head against her soft hair and continued typing the last few lines.

He kissed her 30 minutes later to wake her up. Weird enough, she was suddenly energetic, hopping off his lap and calling in the gang to his lab to witness Baymax's upgrades. Tadashi knew this was another one of her weird mood swings but at least she wasn't on the other end of the emotional spectrum. The gang gathered up inside his lab and left space in the middle for the red box that contained Baymax.

"I'm the guinea pig!" Honey excitedly trilled.

From behind Gogo, Wasabi snickered. "Finally, now we get to know why you're so…" Gogo alarmingly covered his mouth knowing that Wasabi was treading on dangerous waters of a female hormonal imbalance. The two of them sighed in relief realising that Honey was too distracted to have heard the quip.

"Ow." she grinned at the unfolding metal box. Even if he's mastered Baymax's mechanical functions long before, he still feels the swell of pride everything he responds to his activation key. Baymax inflated up and waddled towards Honey Lemon.

"Hello, I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion." he said. "I was alerted to the need for medical attention when you said 'ow'."

Tadashi was grateful that the his codes weren't interfering with older codes. So far so good. He observed how Honey Lemon's lips were moving to the words Baymax was saying. She's been around him for so long.

"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

"I'd say 5. It's more a dull annoying ache really."

"I will scan you now." Tadashi held his breath, hoping that he wouldn't have to go over 178 pages of codes again to find a single mistake. Baymax was silent for a moment longer than that of which he was coded for. "Please wait as I process the information." the robot said. Tadashi's heart rate picked up. He only coded Baymax to say that when there's something off.

"Scan complete. It seems that there is an intrusive independent body in your system. You have increased hormonal imbalance and gravidity that which causes the cramps." he said.

"Did I eat something or…?" Honey continued on, suddenly worried that this was something more alarming.

"From my scan, this imbalance is caused by…" Tadashi couldn't believe it, Baymax was buffering.

"Pregnancy."

Everyone's jaw dropped simultaneously. The gang was silent. Honey Lemon was silent. Gogo was silent. Wasabi was silent. Even Fred was silent. And Tadashi felt his brain was malfunctioning.

"You are on your first trimester. An healthy embryo is steadily growing within your uterus. I suggest a healthy diet and lots of sleep and rest." Baymax continued. Everyone was still quiet. Baymax interpreted the silence as a cue for further explanation. "From my DNA database, the father is Tadashi Hamada."

"I'm going to be a dad."

"You're going to be a dad." Honey whispered.

"You're going to be a mom!" Tadashi shouted.

"I'm going to be a mom!" Honey screamed.

"We're going to be parents!" they both screamed.

"I'm going to be an uncle!" Fred pulled them both into a hug. The gang snapped out of shock and excitedly gathered into a group hug. They all congratulated the couple (who were still slightly in shock).

"What can I say, Hamada. That was fast." Gogo chuckled and punched Tadashi's arm.

"We're gonna have a little genius running around!" Wasabi patted Tadashi's back. "Gonna be running around and messing things from their…proper organization." he gulped, imagining a little toddler wrecking havoc his tidy lab.

"I've sensed heightened levels of dopamine. I'm sure that this is good news. I am now contacting: Hiro Hamada." A screen projected on Baymax's tummy. Hiro's face appeared in the screen, looking tired from work. "Hey guys." Hiro said. He noticed the joyous looking group hug. "What's up?" he raised a speculative brow.

"You're going to be an uncle." Tadashi said.

Which resulted into more confusion until it finally clicked. "Y-you mean, Honey's…?"

Honey Lemon grinned widely and nodded. Hiro's face lighted up like a bulb, it was priceless. "I'm going to be an uncle! Oh! Oh wow! Holy…. That's awesome! That's beyond awesome! Congratulations you guys!" he exclaimed, barely able to form a coherent sentence. "I'm going to be an uncle!" he cried. "Fist bump bro, you did good." Hiro directed his fist to the front camera. "Thanks, man." Tadashi fist bumped Baymax.

"Badala dala da." he robot said. The Hamada brothers laughed.

"We are so celebrating tonight. I am so going to make the best baby room in the world. It's gonna have an electric diaper changer, and a really awesome baby mobile that changes into anything the baby wants and a hologram that shows nursery songs and—"

"And a giant dinosaur pillow!" Fred jumped into the air. "I propose pizza at my place tonight!"

They all started pitching in their own ideas for the baby. It even got so far as the baby's college plans. Tadashi still couldn't believe he was going to be a dad. To an actual human being. Him and Honey. Actual parents. Actual baby.

That night as he crawled beside his wife in bed, he snuggled against her stomach and palmed her currently flat stomach. "Hello." he said, smiling. "I'm your dad."

Honey ran her hand through his hair. "And you're going to be a great dad."

He smiled up at her, as the dispersed moonlight shone on her face. "You really think so?"

"I know so, silly. Look how well you did with Hiro."

He crawled his way up until he nuzzled her nose. "I love you so much."

She held his face and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. "And I love you too."

A year later Tadashi found himself following a waddling toddler in a baby walker holding a plastic screw driver around the lab. "You know what, I can already tell." Wasabi said peering down as the kid started figuring out how a screw driver clutched a bolt. "You're kid's going to be a super nerd."

"Well," he chuckled as Keiko started twisting the screw driver. "She is her parent's daughter."


	2. You Know the Words Once Upon a Time

They've been planning this for weeks. The whole nerd gang going on a trip to Okinawaii for a much needed vacation. They've finished all their academic agendas to make way for the trip. It was a celebration for their graduation day. For the past months, everybody has been droning along, fatigued from dare they say it, thesis. And now, they're bursting for a break. They were travelling by plane. Well, more like Fred's private luxury jet plane.

'Welcome friends! To my Pterodactyl!" Fred sluggishly raised his hands up and caressed the sleek jet. Wasabi whistled upon entering and plopped down on a leather reclinable. "You know Fred, even if you gave me a stupid name, I'm still thankful you became my friend." he chuckled and snuggled into the seat. He was then given a fancy looking cocktail by one of the flight attendants. "Yeap! Very thankful."

Hiro bound to the captain's cabin and marvelled all the possibilities he can improve on. "I've never tried tinkering with a plane." He tried holding the handle. "Don't even think about it, little bro." Tadashi grabbed the back of Hiro's shirt and placed him in his seat. "We can't afford a real ride on this plane much less pay for any damages dealt." he patted his hair. Gogo placed her bag in the upper compartments. "I call the music!" she connected her phone to the jack beside the captain's wheel. Fall Out Boy played loudly in the background. Honey Lemon was standing by the aisle just observing her friends. She couldn't believe she's finally found the people who she can be truly herself with. Abuela would be delighted that she's doing wonderfully. "Guys! Picture!" she chirped. The gang gathered around for the snap. Yes, abuela would be delighted when she sees this.

"Honey!" Tadashi called at the end of the aisle closest to the cockpit. She placed her bag in the compartment above. "I knew you'd want a seat by the window and all the other's have claimed theirs." He gestured to the last window seat in the plane. Honey Lemon smiled warmly. Tadashi had always done her favours she never asked for. A cup of peppermint tea when she's flustered, a rush to the chemicals store when she's lacks some compounds, a jacket when she forgets hers at the apartment. There was even a time that he volunteered to take care her dog, Conchito, when she went home for the weekend to Puerto Rico.

Hiro snickered and Tadashi sent him a pointed look. "Hey Honey!" Hiro piped across her. "Don't you think my brother looks extra fresh today?" there was a smirk on the younger brother. Tadashi's face sprung red. "I mean go ahead Honey! Take a whiff, it's not like he took three hours to dress up today whining to me that he needed to look ext—"

"You can shut up now Hiro. It's not like I'm the one paying for your tuition right?" Tadashi covered Hiro's mouth and messed up his hair. Honey chuckled at their antics. "You're right, Hiro. He does look fresh." she teased along. Tadashi looked at her sheepishly and plopped back down on his seat.

Recently, Tadashi has been quite peculiar. Honey was a lot of things and she certainly wasn't stupid. She read him. But she didn't want to assume knowing the hurt that follows after. In the whole history of "romance" in her life, she had always unknowingly assumed too much. Too often did it end in disappointment. There were things she didn't want to dwell upon and therefore, as much as she finds herself attracted to Tadashi, she tries to suppress it.

A familiar piano note broke away from the loud drums and the electric guitar riffs which peaked Honey's memory of grade school days. She covered her mouth in disbelief. It wasn't just her that recognised the song, it clicked to the whole gang. All of them disbelievingly looked at Gogo Tomago, who was blushing profusely and sinking further into her seat.

 _"Na na na na, na na na na yeah… you are the music in me."_

 _"_ Gogo Tomago, no way." Wasabi looked at her. "Well well well, our punk princess seems to have a touch of softness inside her." he chuckled.

"I knew it! Gogo was a fan when she was a kid! She wasn't always AC/DC and Kansas!" Fred jumped in his seat. "Haha! Gimme 5!" Fred held out his hand and drudgingly slapped five dollars in his hand.

"I…That was my little sis…" Gogo struggled for words. She mentally slapped herself when she realized she put her phone in shuffle all.

"I don't get it. What is this?" Hiro looked confusedly at everyone. Why was everyone treating this song like it was an obvious fact.

"Right, it's not your decade. Only 90s kids know." Wasabi chuckled. "Your brother never had the singing phase? Carrying a basketball everywhere even if he sucks at playing ball?" Wasabi laughed.

 _"Your harmony to the melody is echoing inside my head. A single voice, above the noise and like a common thread."_

Every smiled, knowing exactly the lyric that follows by heart. Honey saw that Gogo was suffering fro embarrassment when Troy's part ended.

 _"Hmmm, you're pulling me."_

"When I hear my favorite song I know that we belong!" she sang along to relieve Gogo. If her friends were as big fanatics as she was, she knew they'd play along.

"Oh! You are the music in me." the man beside her sang. Tadashi was smiling nervously. Never had they heard Tadashi even utter a note in their years of friendship. "Yeah, it's living in all of us, and i's brought us here because!" he looked at the others for help to end the awkwardness. "You are the music in me!" his toes curled.

"NA NA NA NA OH! NA NA NA NA YEAH! YOU ARE THE MUSIC IN ME!" Fred stood on his seat and belted out. And just like that, all the tension washed away. The whole plane erupted into song. Suddenly, they weren't 21 years olds post college graduation in the brink of adulthood. Suddenly, they where spirited 10 year olds again singing along to the songs of their pre-teen days. None of them knew each other before college, but everyone bonded along with their common love for the old Disney show. It amazed Honey that they all still knew lyric by lyric as if they sang it yesterday.

Gogo was smiling again, relieved of her embarrassment. She loved high school musical despite it being a little farther off her usual genre. It reminded her of dancing along to the songs back in grade school after classes with her friends. Tadashi knew Troy's part by heart. He recalled wearing red baseball tees everyday to school and carrying a basketball wherever he went. He fostered a huge crush on Gabriella Montes and thus he promised he'd marry a smart and pretty girl. Perhaps he had Gabriella Montes to blame for this crush he's been harbouring for Honey Lemon who was everything he looked for in a girl. Said girl was distractedly really into the song. She was recording the whole thing on her phone, trying to capture the heartwarming moment with her best friends.

Everyone laughed merrily when the song ended. Honey ended her recording and held the phone to her chest. She will treasure this memory with all her heart.

"I still don't get it!" Hiro protested, annoyed from being the only one who was oblivious to the song.

"It's okay little bro, because.." Tadashi ruffled his hair. "WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. AND WE KNOW THAT WE ARE. WE'RE ALL STARS AND WE SEE THAT!" they all sang again as the plane took off for Okinawaii.

Hiro frustratedly sank in his seat. Honey handed him a laptop and some earphones, the Disney intro was playing as Hiro took it. "I have the trilogy. Go ahead and watch it." Honey smiled warmly and winked. By the end of the plane ride, Hiro was singing along to them all.


	3. Time Travelling, Sweetie

"From the moment that Stephen Hawking discovered about the theoretical laws of quantum mechanics, I had known that there were greater thresholds to break. Truly, there are infinite possibilities for the future, trillions upon quintillions of possibilities thus, rendering time travel impossible. You can't simply trace one branch from the great trunk that is the future. It is completely impossible. And what is the tagline of San Fransokyo Institute of Technology? Impossible is what you make it!"

Wasabi narrated gloriously while the gang gathered around and stared at him blankly. Only Fred seemed to be so hyped up.

"It's… actually Honor and Excellence." Honey politely interjected.

"I'm sorry were we watching Discovery Channel?" GoGo got up and popped her gum.

"Wait wait wait!" Wasabi held his hands up. "Come on, GoGo! I invented a time travelling machine!"

"Yeah, and I just made the Millennium Falcon." Hiro sniped, "Oh wait I can!"

It was a Saturday night on the second week of the month and the lab was deserted except for them. And if you were a member of the nerd gang, you'd know it was Eureka night. A tradition that they'd had since Fred magically made Hiro's hoverboard lift from the ground by throwing a sandwich at it. Hiro then came to realize that mayonnaise is a good power source. Ever since that night, the gang takes turns on inventing little pet projects and this by far, was the coolest once.

Fred was gurgling in excitement in the background. "Come on! Come on! I can't wait for the great reveal! I can't wait to say Beam Me Up Scotty! But instead I'll be like Beam me up 'Sabi!" he bounced around. "That's actually a teleporter, Fred. Not a time travelling machine." Tadashi said, remembering quite well when he went to watch Star Trek completely alone because Honey Lemon had to do her research project. The only moment he mustered up enough courage to ask her out, he got stood up, because of a chemical conundrum. Yes, Tadashi remembered that night really well.

He squinted his eyes at Tadashi, "You're challenging my nerd cred."

Tadashi raised his hands up in amused surrender. Wasabi excitedly walked towards the dramatically veiled piece and daintily took the end of the fabric in his hand and pulled.

"Behold!" Wasabi unveiled a sleek looking cylindrical glass with a blue glowing base. There were plasma rings that floated intertwined in the middle section. There was an audible buzz that emitted from the piece. It was every bit of mad genius for a prop for a really over-the-top high budgeted, over marketed, superhero film. There was a collective "oooh".

Fred slumped. "And I thought it was going to look like the car from Back to the Future!"

Gogo crossed her arms looking surprisingly impressed. "Give it a go."

"I'm setting it to 12 years from now!" he twisted up a turnstile and pulled a lever and it whirred to life. It precariously effused a high-pitched ring and everybody felt like huddling closer together.

But then in that very moment, Tadashi thought about a certain gap the moment a blinding white light emerged from the machine. "But how will it know the coordinates or the specific locat—

He was never able to finish because a person barrelled into him yelling "You can do it baby! You can do it!"

And no it wasn't Wasabi cheering on his invention. It wasn't Fred cheering along like an over involved aunt. Nor was it the only woman in the room that he did or did not think about every night saying those said lines.

The smoke cleared away and they looked on with amid or horror and fascination. It was a truly amazing sight really, a feat of great technological innovation. To see the exact same molecules of the human body in perfect juxtaposition.

That's right. Tadashi was on Tadashi.

"I'm right here— for… you?" the man spoke, well Tadashi spoke. He realized he wasn't where his molecules should be in accordance to the laws of physics. He wildly looked around, panicked and looked like two minutes away from a heart attack. He stood up, heaving. Hiro cleared his throat.

"Wow. Talk about ageing beautifully, am I right?" he elbowed Honey Lemon in the ribs.

The man was Tadashi in 12 years. He kept his form, not a hint of a beer belly anywhere. He had some stubble, enough to look a little more rugged and manly. He had some lines at the edges of his eyes that showed he laughed a lot. He wore disheveled pyjamas, something younger Tadashi was familiar with.

The man looked at the gang then back at the younger version of himself. He did so for three more times before he covered his face with his hands and groaned. "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no…" he muttered, running towards the smoking time machine. He saw the fuse that blew and he felt the blood leave his face. "Oh no! No! No! No!" he paced back and forth, pulling at his hair.

Younger Tadashi stood up and looked at… himself. He still had the same mannerisms like pacing and pulling at his hair. Younger Tadashi had no idea what to feel right now. Older Tadashi knows exactly what he was feeling right now. Panic.

"No! No! No!" He sunk to his knees and buried his face in his hands. This went on for a minute before older Tadashi looked up, a hopeless look in his face. "It's Eureka night isn' t it?"

They nodded. Older Tadashi looked like he was about to crumble on the floor. The gang snapped out of it and helped him to chair.

Wasabi was the first to speak up. "Okay Tadashi," both versions looked at him. "That was weird." he continued. "Okay, older Tadashi. Don't worry man, if it worked the first time, then I'm sure I can fix it up and send you back!" he comforted.

Older Tadashi was still disgruntled and panicky. "You don't get it! I have to go back immediately! Like right now!" he lamented. Honey Lemon hurried to the pantry to get some tea to calm him down. She approached him cautiously, handing out the tea. Older Tadashi looked up and groaned. Honey felt herself recoil inside. She couldn't help but think about the worst possible scenario to make older Tadashi dislike her.

"I'll get it up and running in five hours." Wasabi patted his back. He took another look at the machine and sighed. "Okay maybe a day." earning himself another tortured groan from the older man.

"I have to get home right now!" he stood up and started digging through Wasabi's magnetic tool table. The owner of the tools eye twitched. Unsatisfied, older Tadashi pushed the entire table beside the machine and started working on it.

"What's the hurry?" Hiro asked. "Well except that you're in a completely different time with a really slight chance of retur— Gogo covered his mouth just in the nick of time.

He was fumbling with the tools making an even bigger mess. It was a pitiful sight and younger Tadashi couldn't take it any longer. "Hey come on man," he helped his older version up. "You're obviously too disoriented to work. Let Wasabi work on it." he sat him down and patted his back. "We'll get the thing working again and you can go back to your own time, alright?"

It was the most unusual sight watching two Tadashis comfort the other.

"Okay." he took a really deep breaths. They all sat in front of him, just watching.

"This. Is. Awesome!" Fred yelled. "I mean in every time travelling movie I always hate it when they hide the truth that they're from different time periods but here you are! Now you can tell us about everything from the future!" he exclaimed. They all stared at him incredulously.

"So… how is it in the future?" Hiro asked.

Older Tadashi took a deep breath. "Well, just so you know, you're the most acclaimed inventor in the world. And this isn't even brotherly bias." he smiled a little and Honey's breath hitched at the sight. She always imagined growing old beside him. But older Tadashi can't even look at her without wincing.

"Why are you in such a hurry to get back?" GoGo for the first time, showed concern.

"Because my wife just went into labor for our second child and I just disappeared in the middle of the hospital hallway."

That was a big one. Tadashi didn't know how many more surprises will come this night.

"I think I got something running!" Wasabi yelled as the machine started whizzing up again. "I think you should jump in!" Wasabi yelled through high pitched noise. Older Tadashi got up and ran to the machine and there was another blinding explosion.

They all shielded their eyes. Older Tadashi was the first to open. He prayed that he was back in the hospital but then he heard a voice.

"Go mama! You can do it!"

There was his 4-year old daughter right in front of him. And he swore that he was this close to fainting. "Oh there you are daddy!" she jumped into his arms. "You suddenly went poof and you were gone! Mama was really freaking out."

The gang couldn't believe it. There were three Tadashis in the room. She toddler was a complete carbon copy of her father. They all marvelled at the little sight. Same jet black hair and lithe frame even for her age. It was no doubt, that was his kid. Until she turned around and they saw her green eyes.

"Mama!" she squealed and ran to none other than Honey Lemon.

And they all thought collective gasps only happens in sitcoms.

Tadashi was beet red. There he was witnessing the spectacle of the century. The woman of his dreams being hugged by his future child in this confusing mess of time-space predicament. Honey Lemon on the other hand was as stiff as a brick. She didn't know what to make of the little kid with her eyes and his hair and oh my goodness they got together and had a baby no two babies and she can barely breathe right now.

"Wow you're fast mama! I read in my biology book that labor takes at least a few hours but my mama is a super mama!" she nuzzled her knees. Honey's toes curled.

"Wooooaaaahhhh, Honey and Tadashi procreating." Fred nodded with an impressed smile, interrupting the silence.

Older Tadashi sighed. "How old are you guys again?" he asked scratching the back of his neck.

His younger version answered him after gulping."Twenty one."

He bit his lip. "Right, you haven't mustered up the courage to admit to Honey yet." he looked at his younger self apologetically. "Sorry man, I blew the surprise. You would've wanted something more special than this."

"I— Tadashi could barely look at Honey Lemon now.

"C'mere Kimi." the older man beckoned, and the little girl ran into his arms. Picking her up and hugging her. "At least you weren't harmed." he sighed in relief.

"Okay, I think it's best if we all calm down right now. Wasabi, you can work on the machine while Daddy Long Legs over there can take care of his kid while we fix the rest of the debris so that the kid won't get into any accidents, okay?" GoGo straightened everything out.

That sounded like a plan. They all got to work. The gang cleaned up the room from the busted pieces of the time travelling machine. Older Tadashi inspected the blueprints of the time travelling machine while the kid sat on the desk swinging her legs and, not surprisingly, pitching in her own thoughts on the machine.

Honey was slowly sweeping the floor, but her eyes were glued to the child and her father. That child was _hers. Hers. Hers and Tadashi's._ The guy that she secretly (or not so secretly) likes.

Tadashi wasn't faring any better. That was _his and Honey Lemon's_. Their child. Him and her. Making a child, no _children._ Living together, getting married, having children, growing old together. He was witnessing proof that indeed he does get a happily ever after with the woman he's secretly (or not so secretly) in love with.

The little girl on the other hand was curiously inspecting him back. "Why do I have two daddies?" she asked. The younger Tadashi gasped, scrambling for an excuse in his brain.

"Time Travelling, sweetie." Older Tadashi said bluntly, still focusing on the blue prints.

"Oh." she piped, "that makes sense." she smiled, revealing a gap between her pearly whites. She reached out her chubby little toddler arms towards younger Tadashi. The man cautiously approached her. "Up!" she said.

The younger man did so, obeying his, dare he say it, daughter. The moment he picked her up, she wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled close. Tadashi felt like he was going to cry. He was holding his baby girl for the first time. "Amazing isn't it? Trust me, you'll really cry after you hold her as a newborn." his older version said. "Down!" she commanded.

Tadashi put her down and she ran over to Honey's lab. They heard a small clicking of glassware.

"This is a cool lab!" the little girl chirped. "Mama, is this yours?"

Honey didn't know whether to respond to 'mama' or what. She felt Tadashi's eyes on her.

"Mama! Can I play with this?" she said. Honey knew she couldn't get away from this any longer. She approached Kimi and smiled. "You have to put on—

"Protective goggles and a lab coat!" she continued. "Daddy, can you give me that lab coat and those goggles." she smiled, sounding so much like Honey Lemon at that moment. He followed her, handing her the protective wear. Honey rummaged for non harmful materials and Kimi excitedly picked up a test tube and played around with the mortar and pestle. The two watched her closely, seeing to it that she wouldn't get into any trouble.

"Looks like they're already practising!" Hiro piped in, leaning on the table with a teasing look in his eyes. "Hey Kimi! I'm your Uncle Hiro!" he said, ruffling her hair. She giggled. "You're adorable you know that? My older brother and his future wife happens to have a really good gene pool." picked her up and threw her in the air. "Only a matter of time till they start—

"There's a four year old in the vicinity, Hiro." Tadashi said sternly.

"Would you look at that, his paternal instincts are already kicking in!" he teased further.

"Hey!" Tadashi defended.

"What's wrong?" Kimi asked. "Why is daddy mad?"

"You see Kimi, your mom and dad haven't admitted that they're desperately, irrevocably, and disgustingly, in love with each other." GoGo smirked.

"But Mama and Daddy super love each other! They make gooey faces while cooking my breakfast and they do the yucky kissing when they think I'm not looking and—

"That's enough information for the night, Kimi." Older Tadashi called in from the machine. "How about you come here and play assistant to daddy?" he called. She climbed down Hiro and ran over to her dad.

"She's a real cutie, Tadashi" Hiro chuckled. "I'm really really really excited to finally have my niece." he winked and left the two alone.

Honey Lemon and Tadashi stood there in silence. She fumbled with the glassware and he watched the way her hands masterfully handled the tools. Tadashi cleared his throat. This wasn't exactly how he planned to see his future unravel. I mean yes he's been dying to know if ever he'll end up with the love of his life but now that it's here right in front of him, he just can't seem to grasp his mind around it. He looked over at Honey Lemon who looked almost as mentally tortured as he was. "Do you want to step out and talk for a bit?" he suggested.

"Yeah, that'd be good." she mumbled.

They walked out to the balcony and the breeze provided the air that the lab deprived them of. He leaned on the railing, looking out at San Fransokyo lights at night. It was breath taking. Just like the future ahead of him.

"You know, I never really pictured revealing my feelings for you in that way. I feel like that moment was stolen from me." he admitted, looking down.

"You mean…" Honey trailed off.

"Yes. I love you. And I've loved you since the moment you first smiled at orientation day. I love how you're always lively and cheerful, how you can light up an entire lab in the middle of finals week. I love how you're the most intelligent girl I've ever met, and I'm enrolled in SFIT. I love how you're so secure and confident in yourself, never letting the world bring you down. I love how you crinkle your nose and the way your stick out your tongue when you're really concentrated on your work. I love that determined spark in your eyes when people say that a chemical compound is impossible. I love can't resist helping people in need even if that person is a complete stranger. I love how you still sing along to Disney songs and how you cried in the cinema when you watched The Little Prince because you never allowed that inner kid inside you to die. I love how even if I'm sleep deprived and overfatigued, you're the only thought that keeps me going. And I love how you take care of Hiro, I mean the moment you took care of him when he broke his nose, I already knew you were going to be a great mom and from the happenings of this night, you really are. I want to hold your hand and wake up next to you every single day. I want to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you and kiss you every time we come home from work. Have Kimi and two other kids, more if you'd allow it." he took a deep breath and chuckled.

"I love you, Honey Lemon. For the long run."

Tadashi knew he wasn't prone to verbal vomit but that was just pent up there for two years straight.

"Tadashi… I—" she was blushing and Tadashi felt that feeling wherein finally things were coming together like little puzzle pieces that fit perfectly into place.

"Hey guys!" Fred burst through the door. Tadashi had to bite back a remark.

"Now's not the right time for baby making! Older you finally figured out the time travelling machine!"

They hurried along inside to find the machine whirring into motion. Older Tadashi was carrying Kimi in his arms with a huge smile in his face. They approached him as the wind from the machine blew. Older Tadashi approached his younger self and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You're gonna help so many people buddy, so many." he had a knowing look in his eyes. "Just wait for it, it'll all come together soon enough." he nudged at his sleeping daughter in his arms. Younger Tadashi smiled and looked at Honey Lemon.

"I think it already has." he said, and she smiled back.

Older Tadashi raised his brow and grinned. "You know why these pyjamas are so familiar." he smirked.

"Yeah, totally. Our 'Damn-I'm-Happy-Tonight" pyjamas." they both laughed.

"And I swear, I've always been happy since they came into our lives." Young Tadashi caressed his future daughter's hair for the last time for the time being. He waved at them and stepped into the cylindrical portal. "Oh yeah, Tadashi," he called from inside.

"Yeah?" Tadashi answered, shoving one of his hands in his pockets, the other wove around Honey's.

"Remember to never run into burning buildings, okay?"

That was a weird advice but he'll take note of that in the future.

The bulbs flashed again and in a puff of smoke, they were gone just as fast as they came. In that half-second of blinding light Tadashi thought that from the moment that Stephen Hawking discovered the theoretical laws of quantum mechanics, he had known that there were greater thresholds to break. Truly, there are infinite possibilities for the future, trillions upon quintillions of possibilities rendering time travel impossible. But he knew that the single strand, that one single strand of a future that mattered, was linked to his hand right now, lightly tugging on his thumb in a playful manner

They regained their sight again.

"Congratulations, Mr. Hamada. It's a boy!"

They opened their eyes and found out that they were in a hospital room. With a worn out, flustered, post pregnancy Honey Lemon on the bed staring at them in complete shock.

"Oh no." Tadashi muttered. The rest of the gang echoed his words.


	4. Beyond

Honey Lemon picked up the phone at the first ring. Naturally, she was jittery when she greeted "Hello," but her nerves settled after she was greeted back by a warm, deep "Hi".

"Tadashi," she smiled; and he practically heard her smile.

"I just came to call you. Even though it's just been like what, a week?" he said, clutching the phone close, as if its proximity might make her more real.

"You know it's only been a week. I bet your calendar has red X marks on it like in those chick flicks we used to watch." she teased. He bit his lip and lowered the volume of the television. He missed her enough to actually pop in the horrid films that she seemed to take a genuine interest of. But then Honey Lemon didn't need to know that.

"So how is it all the way there?" he asked. "I bet you're all partied up now." he attempted to construct the image of his girlfriend in one of the famous clubs in Los Angeles, he shivered. "Hey! There's more to LA than parties and booze okay. I came here for research, not to pick up idiots." she rolled her eyes. "Besides, I already have one back home." she chuckled.

"I can't believe it's already been a week. Fourty-eight more to go then." he sighed. "I'm just stuck here in San Fransokyo like always while you're there skinny dipping on the Golden Coast." he mused, hoping she would laugh, although it was funny, and he did truly mean it as a joke, she stayed silent. "Wait… you haven't been skinny-dipping, have you?!" he asked, suddenly panicking at the prospect of his girlfriend's naked body out in the open public.

" 'Course not" she laughed.

Finally.

"Then why were you so silent?"

There was a pause in the line.

"I just recalled the first day we met." she said nonchalantly. "You mean the day you had to purposefully walk in front of a guy who was taking scenery shots when you could've just walked behind?" he laughed, recalling as well. "It was the best mistake I ever made." she said, smiling. Tadashi wondered why Honey Lemon suddenly got nostalgic. "You know I actually read some of that during my theory class. Hold up, I'm going to fetch my book." she got up and went to her room leaving the phone by their picture on her desk. The book was under a pile of memorabilia she stuffed in her duffel bag last week while packing for her scholarship. She shuffled through the pages and finally spotted it. The Chinese Proverb.

"Here we are." she picked up the phone again. "It's a Chinese proverb about the Red String of Fate. They say that when a human is born, the spirits tie an invisible red string around the two individual's ankles. The individuals are then destined to meet. It may wear, stretch, loosen, and tangle but it will never tear. Some soul mates meet once in the village market, in the court, or even merely passing by in the train station. Some lives they live happily ever after, some lives they just catch a glimpse by the other side of the road. One thing is certain, they are destined to meet one way or another."

"Wow, nice hullabaloo you got there." he laughed. "I'm serious Tadashi! It's…" she weakly protested.

"Romantic? Transcendent? Cosmic-connection-science-fiction-Hawking-like?" he poked fun at her. Knowing all her favourite topics inside out. "Oh shut up, you." she never mentioned it, but she was endeared by his silly antics, even if she finds herself the victim. She palmed the bracelet he gave her. She just had to ask the question that's been nagging at her in the wee hours of the morning.

"What if I never met you?"

"That's bull."

"No, seriously! Just think about it. What if I chose to walk behind you than in front of you that day? What if you didn't notice me walk by or just tolerated my mistake and let me pass without speaking to me? I mean the world is a pretty big place. A person you walk by in the city might as well be never seen by you again. What if… what if GoGo walked by instead of me?" she asked, misty-eyed and contemplative. He gagged at the notion. "GoGo? No what the hell, Honey Lemon?"

GoGo was one of their best friends . She was spunky, smart , stunningly beautiful, and they got along pretty well. No matter how much Tadashi tried to convince Honey that something between him and GoGo was impossible, she's always harboured a slight insecurity with the fellow colleague. GoGo was _wunderbar_ , but not his _Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz._

"Well what if?!" Honey Lemon pushed on the other end.

"As much as I'd like to play pretend right now, I'm perfectly content with my girl."

"You wouldn't know that." she twirled the phone line around her finger. "What if it really were GoGo who passed you, and you got into a serious relationship with her. And you loved each other a lot but she had to accept a research opportunity in Los Angeles and leave you in San Fransokyo for a year and now she's talking to you on the phone forcing you to imagine what ifs and you said you were perfectly content with her… because you never met me."

He was silent on the other line, coming to terms with the ideas she put int his head.

"How would you know? How could you long for something that never existed? How could you remember something that didn't occur? How could you treasure a memory that never happened in the first place? What if I wasn't your red string of fate? What if I was just like GoGo, a wrong encounter gone right? A second-best because destiny decided to wait a little longer till you met the other end of the string? A little tangle in the grand scheme of it all?" she bit her lip.

Tadashi breathed deeply, Honey Lemon continued.

"And what's disturbing is that you'd never know. You'd never realize that somewhere, someone out there could actually make you happier than I can? Because how can you know happiness you've never felt? We're all stuck in the chain of our very own limited perspective, never able to see through more than one possibility for our futures."

There was a long pause creeping in every corner of the room, transcending all the way to his place. He felt the weight of her questions, the doubt, the possibility that what they had was temporary, an accident of fate. He spoke up.

"Does this Red String of yours work despite time, age, circumstance, status, probability, geography, and economic standing?" he worded out confidently.

"….what?"

"I mean does the contract still work?"

" I guess so…" Honey Lemon trailed off, uncertain at where he was going with this.

"Well then!" he piped happily, "Remember this day Honey Lemon! For I shall check up on you in the next lifetime and let's see how that'll turn out. Then we'll see if you truly are at the other end of my red string of fate." his voice was warm and comforting. As if the vibrations travelled by string. And it made her believe, for just a moment, that maybe, just maybe, the other end was wrapped around hers. She grinned. "See you in the next lifetime, Tadashi."

"See you in the next lifetime, Honey Lemon."

It had been minutes after he hung up, with a loving goodbye, that she smiled knowingly. She doesn't have to be afraid of losing him. He was connected to her beyond their physical beings. She asked for Hiro before hanging up to wish him luck at the SFIT showcase tomorrow and cheer him on. Later that night, she looked for Tadashi's shirt that was barely clinging on to the last scent of him. She glanced at her watch, but only found the tattered, red bracelet he had given her the day they met.

She smiled. She knew it was her. She felt it.

 _"See you in the next lifetime, Tadashi."_


	5. The Signseeker Part I

Tadashi was a man of science. He knows that from his very core from the moment he first built a little robot when he was 7 years old. He regarded himself to be rational, logical, and intellectual. He found peace and serenity in the bottom of a microscope. But he still can't figure out why he'd been searching for signs to base his decisions on. Like this morning he proposed to his mind, if he never encounters a red light on his way to SFIT, he'll definitely ask Honey Lemon out to a date. Turns out, San Fransokyo magically let him pass, each second early enough not to let him make a red light. Check. But Tadashi felt his blood curdling when he got up the stairs and he heard her voice catching up to him. He turned and saw her waving, and didn't know why but he made a run for it to his lab.

He was heaving when he got there, slumped against the back of the door. Mentally slapping himself in the face for looking like a complete fool in front of her.

"Okay maybe not today." he sighed, knowing that he'd go against his words yet again. He thought about something completely impossible. "If Professor Plaint actually smiles back when I greet him this morning, I'll ask Honey out."

He walked by the office and of the applied physics professor and knocked on the glass. Waving his hand, he saw the professor tiredly look at him.

And for the love of god,

smiled.

Truly, he didn't mean to frown and harumph at his professor. He made a mental note to apologize later Tadashi walked straight to the open lab. He thought for a second as to why he was at the very place where he should avoid since certain someone worked here. He found that the gang was huddled close in Honey Lemon's desk around a computer. Wasabi and Honey looked completely invested into what was on the screen. He hurried along to see what was the commotion all about.

"What's up, guys?" he greeted. Everyone but Honey and Wasabi greeted him back, hurting him a little. "The last episode of How I Met Your Mother Season 8 apparently, but we're really here for the bets." GoGo shrugged. Tadashi didn't know much about sitcoms, or any shows really. It was a scene where a man unveiled an intricately planned proposal to this woman. And Tadashi thought of this to be the ultimate decider for him, a completely random factor which he had no affiliations with before. If the woman says yes, he'll ask Honey out, if not then he can just live with cats till he grows old and eventually withers away like all human beings do. They all watched the scene unfold.

"Yes. Yes Barney." the woman on the sitcom said. Cue music and two screaming friends, one out of glee and the other of agony. Wasabi was jumping around and hollering "I told you so" while Honey was barely able to form coherent sentences.

"How can this— but Ted! He doesn't even—!" she blurted while simultaneously gaping at the screen of the laptop.

And Tadashi, oh he just allowed himself to think about his place in the Universe. Just like what that poem by Max Ehrmann said, "The Universe is unfolding as it should."

The celebration/funeral went on till the gang's usual Sushi Friday Dinner at Teriyaki Boy's. With Wasabi and Honey debating intensely in the car.

"I told you so!" Wasabi squealed. "It was Barney and Robin all along. I mean come on, that's why the kids call her _Aunt_ Robin. She's obviously not the mother!"

"Yes but still! It's always been Ted and Robin since season one! They made me believe that they can still make it and I just— the blue trombone, and the colonel colonel inside jokes, there's just too much history between them!" Honey lamented and Tadashi resisted the urge to wrap an arm around her if just to use the show as an excuse.

"Yeah but!" Wasabi countered, "you got to give Barney kudos, that was one heck of a proposal."

"Actually." Honey weakly smiled. "It's the best proposal I've ever seen. If I was Robin, I'd say yes in a heartbeat too." Tadashi noted that Honey liked elaborate and complicated surprises.

"Plus he burned The Playbook for her! The Playbook! That's like Barney's holy grail!"

Honey and Wasabi sighed happily and for once there was silence in the car.

"Oh my god I never thought you two would stop yapping! Finally!" GoGo said, relaxing into the driver's seat.

Fred piped in two seconds later. "Oh! Oh! Guys, I just saw this awesome—"

"No! Zip it! Nobody talk for the rest of the ride or I'm running us into a lamp post."

They were silent for the rest of the ride, they knew about GoGo's drag racing and they did not want to get involved one bit.

They arrived at the sushi place and since being safely out of the vehicle, Wasabi and Honey were at it again. "Barney is not her _Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz."_ Honey exclaimed while the waiter served their sushi. Tadashi suddenly regained interest in their conversation after hearing the unusual word.

"Her what?" GoGo cocked an eyebrow, sushi halfway to her mouth. "Oh! Oh! I know that!" Fred jumped in his seat, successfully tipping GoGo's red tea. She smacked him at the back of the neck and sat him back down.

Honey grinned widely, ecstatic that the gang took interest. She cleared her throat. "It was a scene in How I Met where Ted asked his girlfriend's ex fiancé why he left her at the altar. He said that she was wunderbar , that's german for wonderful but not his Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz." she looked excitedly at their expressions of confusion. "It's difficult to look for a direct translation of that but in general it means: Lifelong treasure of destiny, a.k.a. your soulmate. And then Ted asked if maybe people grow Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz-ier over time and he said, it's felt in an instant." she smiled.

"And to directly quote the series: Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz is not something that develops over time. It is something that happens instantaneously. It courses through you like some water on a river after a storm, filling you and emptying you all at once. You feel it throughout your body, in your hands, in your heart, in your stomach, in your skin…"

That was it. That was exactly the verbal translation of the butterflies in his stomach, the electricity underneath his skin, the thumping in his chest, that was it. There were a lot of things Tadashi wasn't sure about, like Baymax's coding, his fashion sense, and the impending outcome of his finals but he was sure of one thing: Honey was his Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz.

"And I kind of agree," she continued. "A woman deserves a man that knows what he wants and how he'll get it done. Not someone who beats around the bush and waits for things to happen to him." she added, popping a sushi in her mouth.

Suddenly, the food on his plate was so much more interesting than the Universe's plans. He subconsciously squashed a sushi until all the stuffing came out. He was well aware that he wasted a perfectly good sushi but then it was so much better to displace your disappointment on something unfeeling than to outwardly show it in public. Honey Lemon was right. She deserved someone who would actually put solid effort into her, not a sign seeker.

Honey Lemon observed him closely and sighed to herself. "One." she said to herself under her breath.


	6. The Signseeker Part II

The next day Tadashi didn't ask the stop light to go green for him. He didn't greet a smiling Mr. Plaint on the way to his lab. He didn't smile when he saw the cat mug full of coffee with a note that says: Work hard! -Honey :)

On the contrary it caused a pinching in his chest that irked him for a while. Wondering why the Universe decided to make fun of him now that he'd given up his charade for her sake. Unbeknownst, she was felt the same thing when she visited him in his lab later that afternoon, seeing the untouched coffee mug that she prepared. It was boggling her as to why Tadashi avoided her for the past few weeks. She hoped that the show last night woke him up a little bit, to step up his game and to finally tell her. But of course that was a little hypocritical of her, to expect that of him when all she ever did was wait as well. Or perhaps even, she wasn't even waiting on anything, because he never felt anything in the first place.

The latter, she decided, seemed the most likely phenomena. Tadashi was furiously concentrated on his computer coding. Giving her little more than monosyllabic responses to her poor attempts at conversation. Maybe Tadashi wasn't her Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz. And she was just projecting what she can't express onto him.

She bid him good luck and cupped the untouched beverage in her hand. All the warmth of the coffee, gone. Too late to drink it, definitely too late.

He heard the door click closed and he sighed. Looking at her blurred figure walk away through the glass of his lab, he knew it was for the better. Tadashi sunk into his seat, pressing his fingers into his eyes. It was for the better. He needed to push her away so that she won't return to his sorry excuse for a human being. One can't be a leaver and be profound at the same time.

It wasn't only the two of them that noticed, the rest of the gang noticed it too. And it was so difficult to foster the spirit of friendship when there was a tension so fragile that it felt like stepping on shards whenever they decided to hang out together.

There was a time when they all decided to go to drink the night after midterms (albeit having to drag Tadashi out of his lab). It was a good night to begin with, no academics to think of or extra curricular to distract them from having a good time. Fred made lots of jokes and the gang started feeling like a gang again. There was a slight confusion of misbehaviour on Tadashi's part, with him being on his sixth bottle of Smirnoff (he normally never goes beyond three, knowingly aware of what he becomes after the fourth bottle.) He was painfully honest, giggling at the stupidest jokes. But so far, the robotics major's antics were all in good fun.

A drunk couple was making out beside their booth. At the first wave, they were secretly making fun of the two. At the second wave, they got all real, talking about past relationships and heartbreaks. At the third wave, they started intellectualising the concept of love.

Honey Lemon, who was nursing a mojito explained. "Did you know," she hiccups, "that a person in love, had the same low levels of serotonin as a person with OCD and the same high levels of dopamine as a person with Schizophrenia?"

"I heard about that! When you're in love, all your neurotransmitters go haywire making you do things that in a normal day, you wouldn't. There's the compulsion factor is the worst, it's like there's this whole other consciousness that affects you." Wasabi tagged on.

Tadashi snickered. "Who the fuck cares about love?"

Yeah, he was definitely drunk. He only swears when he's drunk.

"Love is bullshit. Who needs it? We live in a fucked up world that already has enough problems without love in it. One idiot goes about loving someone and what does that do? Does that get him on a book? Does that immortalise him as a genius? Will kids a hundred years from now find his name in a standardised textbook? No! Fuck love, fuck marriage, fuck chances. People go on saying love is magic, love is the planets aligning, kairos taking reign, destiny, fate and all that shit. But fuck them, magic is nothing but a mirror in a 45 degree angle and a really drunk audience. Fuck them, fuck love." he takes another swig at his bottle. Definitely drunk. That was a little too personal and a little too honest.

Honey Lemon twirled her drink, attempting to appear unfazed by his opinion.

"It messes you up, you know." Tadashi continued slurring out. "You're a decent human being with real goals and aspirations, but then love comes along and the next thing you know you're butt crazy over this girl who won't even return the slightest feelings for you! Then you get all insecure and you doubt yourself, thinking you're not good enough, when in fact, fuck! You just created a fucking nursebot that might revolutionise healthcare itself. But of course that wouldn't matter. Because we're all the same, idiots or geniuses, rich or poor, young or old; the only thing that sets us apart from each other is who we love and who loves us." he drones.

They were all silent for a while, taking in just what their friend said. "Next rounds' on me." he said, getting up and drunkenly walks to the bar.

"I'm just… going to the bathroom." Honey excused herself. They watched her go.

"Man, I didn't know Tadashi was feeling that down inside. He always seemed like a cheerful person." Wasabi said.

"Are you guys seriously that dense?" GoGo shook her head. "It was Honey Lemon he was referring to. And Honey there doesn't even get that it's her he was talking about. I bet she's thinking it's someone else. Now she's probably sulking in the bathroom."

"Really?" Fred gasped. "I thought Honey Lemon was digging me!"

"Oh yeah, genius she totally digs you." Wasabi rolls his eyes.

They heard a mic give out a high-pitched tone and they covered their ears.

"Hello San Fransokyooo! It's your boy T-Bomb here! T'night we're gonna have a real big partey! Get some! Get some!" You give love a bad name started playing and the man started doing weird kicking dances while pretending to play an electric guitar.

They turned their heads towards the guy on the karaoke. It was none other than their dear friend, Tadashi Hamada himself.


	7. Christmas Special

Santa Claus is an extremely suspicious, possibly pedophilic, individual if you thought about it. He creeps into chimneys and leaves presents for children after watching them if they've been naughty or nice for the entire year. That was what she thought about Santa after learning that he never truly existed since she was 7 years old. A mishap on Christmas Eve involving abuela's stale fruit salad sent her crying till New Years. Since then, she's maintained a realistic view on Christmas. It was a celebration for the capitalistic market to marginally increase sales for a holiday meant to socially construct an obligatory consumption of goods. She loved the spirit of love, wonder, and giving, truly.

But she just doesn't believe in trying to make your kids believe that an obese man in a fluffy red bathrobe comes through your window at midnight to leave presents your parents genuinely worked for. Why does Santa get all the credit?

On the contrary, her husband loved the idea of this certain Christmas spirit. Ever since his father dropped a small package on a self-constructed helicopter from the second floor when he was 7 years old, he's been egging to return the favor to his very own children. She's pieced this together when they were Christmas shopping, he'd been lingering in the costume section far too longer than necessary. Upon arriving at the counter, there it was: an adult Santa Claus costume, complete with long white beard.

He gave her a sheepish look.

That's why Honey Lemon found herself curled up beside the fireplace with the chocolate chip cookies the children baked earlier tonight for Santa. She rubbed her hands against the warm mug of eggnog and cracked another chestnut. She felt a slight tinge of sleepiness and tipsiness after the next sip. She knew pouring a bit of alcohol in the eggnog was a bad idea. She'd have to wake up extra early tomorrow to prepare the house for Aunty Alma and the rest of her relatives from Puerto Rico.

Any minute now Santa Claus.

She heard a small thump from upstairs and hoped that Santa didn't wake up the kids. She'd have to pinch the flesh underneath that bushy beard of his for waking up the kids on Christmas Eve after she had to wrestle a hyperactive five year old and a three year old into bed.

Honey stood up and readied the gramophone. It was a beautiful piece of reinvented technology. She'd been looking for one in every antique store since last Christmas but never found a functional one. She only knew what it should sound like from the old cartoons on Cartoon Network that showed what a gramophone looked and sounded like. Then, Honey discovered that it actually existed from about 200 years ago. After the 15th antique store in San Fransokyo, she almost lost hope until came h a sound similar to it from the bedroom during her birthday. There were a lot of times you'd be thankful that your husband is a world-renowned inventor, but this must be the best yet.

Tadashi stood there in a tweed pinstriped black suit with his hair slicked back like a mafia boss. He even had suspenders on. She didn't even know if suspenders were still in the market. He acknowledged her presence by tipping her a glass of wine,

With a "Hey toots." In the most peculiar replication of a mid-atlantic english accent you can only hear in old black and white films in MGM.

She couldn't do anything but cover her mouth in a myriad of joy and amusement at his antics.

He smirked and nodded his head towards a beautiful dark mahogany gramophone attached to a gleaming brass horn with intricately interwoven hardwood on its base. It looked exquisite, like something that jumped out of time. He even had a record!

He placed it on the gramophone and wound the lever beside it (an actual lever!). There came rough scratchy tone until a familiar set of guitar notes played. It was Moon River by Frank Sinatra.

"Care to join me for a little dance, toots?" he said. Knowing Tadashi, he's probably been practicing that accent for a long while. No wonder she found a collection of Casablanca movies underneath his pillow. He strutted towards her and swooped her for a slow dance with the light of the fireplace casted upon the two of them.

"Happy Birthday, Honey." He whispered. She caressed his face lovingly, feeling the overwhelming love they shared through his smile.

A familiar creak came from the staircase.

In three.

She placed the record on the beloved gramophone and wound the lever. It was about to play Unforgettable by Nat King Cole.

Two.

His looming shadow plastered on the wall. His back was turned to her, carefully inserting the two large boxes below the Christmas tree.

One.

"Where're my cookies?"

She chuckled. "Hello Santa."

He froze, slowly turning around to find his wife in a rather provocative looking short bathrobe with her hair in a messy bun and a dreamy look in her eyes that just beckoned him forward.

"Were you looking for these?" she gestured to the empty plate with a pout. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I've eaten your cookies." She grinned, approaching him and slipping her hands beneath the costume and massaging his shoulders.

"That's—" he squeaked. Tadashi cleared his throat and made a gruffer sound. "That's very unfortunate. I'll have to put your name on the naughty list, young lady."

"Hmmm? Really now Santa?" she pouted, tracing patterns on the back of his neck. "But I've been very good all year." She placed little kisses along his jawline, the white beard tickling her subtly.

Tadashi drew a long breath from his wife's attention. He struggled to utter out a coherent sentence when he felt her press against him, hands languidly kneading his lower back.

"All I've ever seen from you are very naughty things. Very naughty indeed." He nuzzled her neck, earning a giggle from her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and swayed her gently side to side to the tune of the music.

Tadashi breathed deeply, allowing himself to take in the marvel of the moment. His beautiful wife, the mother of his children, dancing slowly with him on Christmas Eve. He knew how lucky he was to have this. And he certainly wasn't passing up the opportunity to make them feel how special they were to him.

He couldn't imagine how his life would've turned out if he didn't muster up the courage to tell Honey that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He still remembered that day fifteen years ago; freshman year at SFIT. He was nineteen and wide-eyed, thirsty for the great inventions he'd procure in the walls of this noble university. Back then, his goals were all he could ever think of. Tadashi was aware that there'd been a few women that knowingly left their numbers in his desk, and some of them were really nice as well. But there was just so much science to discover, so much potential to be tapped. He was never the one for romance, it bored him beyond wits. They were sappy and cheesy to the point where the body's reflexes for cringing were fully exhibited.

But that was before he met Honey. Somehow, it all made sense. Just then and there. It's like his hypothalamus turned on a switch he never knew was there in the first place. She just clicked. That was his wife; she just didn't know it yet.

At nineteen, he already knew who the love of his life was. Call it cheesy and somehow demented, but that's how it was for him. And he never wanted it any other way.

Of course it was somehow a set back that she had a boyfriend that kept her occupied back then. So Tadashi decided that all the moves he had left on his board game was simply to wait till she was ready. And he waited like an ever-patient pawn in the grand scheme of it all. To be that best friend that'll be there for her whenever she needed it; hopefully someday she'll realize it was him she'd been looking for all along.

Yes, there were times it hurt. He had to look away when they'd hug. He needed to hold back his tongue when she'd cry to him. He would only laugh when she'd tell him how he was the bestest best friend in the whole world. Because in how many wedding videos do you hear that the newly weds are so lucky to have married their best friends?

He waited and waited for years. After a while, he realized that it was him that was doing it all wrong. All he ever did was wait. He recalled all the old Disney films in Aunt Cass's dusty DVD player. The princes never just waited. They charged with all the courage of a bygone era that spoke of passion and perennial love. And charge he did.

He realized why he couldn't stand romantic movies. He had been attempting to deny himself of it for so long.

But now here he was, at 34 years old, with a wonderful wife and two beautiful kids. He was the epitome of the sappiest happily ever after Disney could ever think of. With censorship however.

"Would you look at that!" she said, dragging him back to the present. Honey pointed at the ceiling. "It's a mistletoe, Santa." She wound her arms around his neck. "I think this calls for a kiss."

He chuckled, slowly leading her to the couch. "I think Santa would need a little more than that to get you on the nice li—"

He was never able to finish because there was a pan that hit him on the back of his knees. He whimpered as he felt the jolt of his nerves run up his spine. Tadashi grabbed the back of his knees and fell on the couch.

"Get away from my mommy!" Lo and behold, there was his brave little five-year-old daughter with a pan in her hand and the fiercest look in her wide green eyes. There was a menacing scowl on her face that threatened him with his life. Since when did she get so strong?

Honey was between laughing and worrying, a confusing set of emotions that rendered her to stand there in shock at the scene that was unfolding in front of her.

"Don't you ever touch my mommy like that, Santa. She's taken." The little girl whispered warningly.

"Kimi, it's past your bed time, why are you up so late?" Honey sighed, trying to hide the giggle that was stuck in her throat.

Her daughter lowered the pan and turned to her with a sad look in her eyes. "You're in big trouble mama. Daddy's not going to be happy when he finds out you were kissing Santa Claus."

A scandalized look blossomed on her face when she found that her mommy and Santa laughed at what she said.

"Why are you laughing? This is serious! You're gonna be in big trouble too Santa. My daddy knows karate and he's gonna kick your butt all the way to the North Pole!" she pointed her finger at him.

"Come on, back to bed with you." Honey chuckled, wiping away the tear that spilled from all the laughing. She pried the pan away from her daughter's hand and placed it on the couch. She carried her and rubbed her back soothingly.

"I'll just tuck her in first." she whispered to her husband. "We'll check for bruises later." she winked. "There's eggnog, if you want."

"No Santa. No eggnog for you. Or cookies. Don't ever come back next Christmas." Kimi grumbled sleepily.

He chortled and placed a kiss on her forehead, which she swatted away grumpily. He watched them walk up the stairs. "Poor daddy." He heard her yawn and he chuckled.

Honey entered the children's room. Kai was still peacefully asleep, all rolled up in his Ironman blanket with a bit of drool pooling out his mouth. She placed Kimi back in her bed and tucked her in. Her daughter had a worried look in her face, which she caressed lovingly till she smiled.

"I'm not kidding mama. I really will tell daddy about this."

"Sweetheart, I'm sure daddy wouldn't mind. He and Santa are really good pals."

"We'll see." She yawned and turned over. "We'll see."

Tadashi watched by the door, lovingly observing his family. He didn't dare enter, for fear that Kimi might seem him again and go into a mad rage and wake her little brother. He watched as Honey Lemon kissed both children before walking outside the room.

"Come along Santa, you've caused enough trouble tonight." She rolled her eyes, grinning at his smug expression. She took his hand in hers and lead him to their bedroom.

"Oh your husband wouldn't mind now, would he?" he chuckled, shoving his other hand in his pocket.

"On the contrary, he'll kick your butt after he finds out all the naughty wicked things you've done to his wife." She said, pulling him into their room.

"Oh dear, I might have to put my own name in the naughty list this year." He nuzzled her neck. A chill running through him when he felt the air touch his bare shoulders.

"Great, he'll join me then."

"That's right abuela! I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus last night!" she heard her daughter narrating dramatically to the whole family in the living room as she prepared the turkey.

She threw her husband a disapproving look. He stopped pouring the wine, blushing as deep as the beverage he was serving.

"No more Santa next year. Or ever."


	8. The Signseeker Part III

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur and he can't exactly remember much after that. But the next morning he found himself on his bed with a bit of bile still on his mouth. He groggily pushed himself up, squinting his eyes at the sunlight that seeped through his bedroom window. Grabbing the blinds down before collapsing on the bed. Hiro walked up the stairs, a juice box in his hand.

"You're lucky it's a Saturday." his younger brother chuckled. "And you say I'm the irresponsible one." he shook his head and plopped down in front of his computer.

Tadashi threw his arm over his eyes, hoping to block out all the light of the morning in San Fransokyo. "How'd I get home?" he muttered. He heard a glass being put down on his bedside table.

"The gang brought your sorry ass home. You were seething actually. Wasabi had you slung over his shoulder but you were fighting and yelling obscenities at this one dude I don't know. But I think the car was his."

He winced at the image in his head. He pushed himself up and took the aspirin. The surge of shame took over him. He wondered who the man was and how he came to have been cursing at him.

"Hmm? Yeah, he's awake." Hiro answered his phone, leaning on the divider and observing his pathetic brother attempting to drink a glass of water while lying down. "No, he's okay. He took an aspirin." he continued, walking back to his computer.

The glass tipped over and wet his pillow. Tadashi sighed in defeat. He mentally constructed apologies for his friends.

"Yeah, I'll make sure he gets enough rest. Bye Honey!"

Tadashi shoots up his bed at the sound of her name. Hiro hung up and saw his brother's bewildered expression. "What?" he asks. Then it clicks. "Oh yeah, you and your little boyhood crush. Damn it, Dashi, you're twenty one for hell's sake. Grow some balls and ask her out already." he rolls his eyes.

On Monday, he readied himself for the onslaught of teasing and inside jokes.

"There he is! The Barf-bomb himself!" Fred called out from across the hallway. Tadashi covered his face. It was too early for this. Too damn early.

He approached his friends, all of which were in a mad fit of guffawing. Honey Lemon wasn't there, and he wondered if she finally gave up on him. Wasabi stood up on a chair and started making an X with his arms and slamming it down to his midsection simultaneously shouting "Get some! Get some!"

"I did that?" Tadashi winced, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.

"Not just that Barf-bomb, you also did this." GoGo sniggered, showing him a video on her phone. He seemed to be in the bar, on top a table, with a god knows whose panty on his head belting out Back In Black. He teetered on top of a table, grabbing the microphone of the karaoke as the intro of the song played. "Dis my lassong furd night! I am T-Bomb! And jur gon' get some!" he screamed, doing the gesture again. The crowd cheered and he started dancing along (if you call weird body jerking movements dancing) while screaming out a slurred version of the AC/DC song.

Tadashi started biting his nails at the video of himself. He hoped that none of this gets to Aunt Cass.

At the end of the song, he grabbed a bottle and popped the top causing all the remains to come splashing out to the crowd. The camera then panned to GoGo who was laughing her head off. She composed herself and cleared her throat. "That's right T Bomb, this is blackmail." The video ended.

"Did you even wonder how you got the name Barf-Bomb?" Fred slung his arm around the embarrassed Tadashi. "You threw up on Honey Lemon!" he exclaimed.

Tadashi felt like fainting. He'd have to drop out of SFIT now.

"You were like," he started imitating a drunk Tadashi (he hoped Fred was over exaggerating but from what he collected a while ago, it was highly unlikely that this was accurate.) "You're so purty, Honey Lemon. You're so purty, so purtyyy!" Fred said, leaning into him and nuzzling his shoulder. Tadashi wasn't even embarrassed anymore, he was devastated. He did this to Honey Lemon? She of all people, didn't deserve this. Fred then made barfing sounds on doubled over on his lap.

"And thus, we dubbed you as the Barf-Bomb Almighty!" he fell to his knees laughing.

They him a video of doing him the exact same thing to Honey Lemon as she looked at him with an amused expression. It got to the part where he was barfing on her lap and she looked into the camera with a hopeless expression on her face and held up a sympathetic peace sign.

"After that you started crying about how you ruined everything. And how all you wanted was to help make the world a better place." Wasabi added, chuckling a bit at the end. "So obviously Honey can't walk around with your barf on her. We decided to lunk your drunken ass home. Honey called up Mark and we drove you home on his car. Man, you were so messed up that when you saw the dude you started yelling at him to start a fight. I had to hold you back. Let me tell you this, you're insanely strong when you're drunk." Wasabi nodded, patting Tadashi on the back.

"Who's Mark?" he asked, guessing him to the person Hiro referred to before who helped him home.

"Honey called him up. We don't know who he is either since we were all really too drunk to ask but he's really nice; offered to take us all home."

Tadashi assumed the worst. He was Honey's boyfriend. Who else would offer a ride for all of her drunk friends at 4am on a Friday. They noticed his silence.

"The wee baby! Someone's jealous!" Wasabi teased.

"Who's jealous?"

Tadashi breath caught halfway down his throat. That was the last voice he wanted to hear that from.


	9. The Signseeker Part IV

Honey Lemon was a woman of science. She knows that from her very core. From the moment she first solved her empirical equation for molecular ionisation when the teacher asked her to draw an apple on the black board. She regarded herself to be rational, logical, and intellectual. But she just couldn't help but ask for signs from the Universe.

She's been trying to avoid confronting him about her feelings. Recently, he's been avoiding her. And for some reason she assumed it was because her freaky sign seeking must be obvious. She attempted to reconcile with him by doing him favours, but it seemed to push him away even more. She was never the one to be obsessed over a boy but Tadashi, he wasn't just anyone. If only he made this easier for her, but he didn't. He avoided her like the plague. It hurt her terribly. On the night that she returned from the airport, she finally decided that she was done with this state of uncertainty started betting against the Universe. If she wins, she tells Tadashi that she likes him. If she loses, she gives up this silly crush and get on with her life. And unfortunately (or fortunately), she always loses.

Tadashi loved his sushi, she thought before, he would never wasted one. But the night, she found a poor little mashed sushi on his plate before they left. One.

She decided she was making this too easy for the Universe. She decided to bet on something harder.

Tadashi was very mature and composed. That was something she was certain on. He would never allow irresponsible behaviour. That's why he's such a good big brother to Hiro. He threw up on her last night. She held up two fingers to the camera GoGo was holding.

She sighed. One more and a future with him was over. She guessed that if the Universe wanted it, then so be it. For the better.

She sees her friends at the other end of the hall. They were making fun of the man who had his back turned to her. Even from the other side of the room she could already detect his reddened ears. She walked towards them and put up a happy facade.

"The wee baby! Someone's jealous!" Wasabi teased.

Jealous? Tadashi was jealous?

"Who's jealous?" she waved at them with her smile.

Bet Three: If he runs away, that's a point for me.

"Nothing!" Tadashi yells and runs back to his lab muttering about new updates for Baymax.

In your face, Universe.

Her friends show her the videos of last night and she airdropped hers to their phones. Later that day, she decides to visit GoGo over at her section.

"Hey GoGo." she chirped, sitting on her desk. The girl was working on her bike. She always admired GoGo for her strength and resolve.

"Hey Honey." she nodded. "You okay now? Last night was a bit rough for you."

"Yeah, the vomit came right off when I popped it in the washer." she chuckled, tucking a lock of her behind her ear.

"I didn't mean that, Hon. I meant when you went to the bathroom when Tadashi spouted his cynicism on love like a prepubescent loser." she smirked.

"Oh, I had to retouch my make-up." she lied. She didn't. She went there to compose herself. He was harbouring heavy feelings for someone. Someone that happens to be important enough for him to lose his wits and completely let himself go. It was obvious that whoever that person was, she was extremely important to have caused him that much hurt. And here she was thinking that she actually had a chance with him.

"You and I both know you didn't." GoGo said, leaning on the desk beside her.

"If you like him, go for it. It's not everyday that feelings get reciprocated, you know." she smiled sadly.

Honey Lemon looked into the eyes of her best friend. No matter how hard and sarcastic she appears on the outside, she knew GoGo had one of the most caring souls. Tadashi was right. We lived in a world that hates and lusts and destroys and hurts so badly that it seems like there is nothing more in it that pain. But Tadashi was wrong as well. It wasn't love that worsened this world, it was love that healed it. She gave GoGo a big hug and decided to get back to her lab.

There was steam coming out from a cat mug on her desk. It had a note on it that said: Sorry, I'll get you a new cardigan. - Tadashi :)

She looked at his lab and found that he had his head peaking out a bit. He smiled and waved his hand and she smiled, waving back. He raised his own mug. She raised hers. A toast.

One thing Honey Lemon knew, never toast before you know what you toasted for. But she did.

She did.


	10. The Signseeker Part V

Tadashi parked his moped beside the cafe. He was greeted by the comforting smell of coffee and newly baked cinnamon rolls. He picked up an apron and tied it around his waist. "Hey Aunt Cass." he smiled. She kept on mixing coffee grounds, ignoring him. He had yet to apologise for last night.

"I'm really sorry about last night. You were probably really worried and coming home like that, you must be so disappointed. I'm sorry." he started, washing his hands in the sink.

She sighed, leaning on the counter and placing a hand on her hip. "You're old enough to make your own decisions, Tadashi. I trust you, I know you're mature enough to take care of yourself. So if you make mistakes, it's not on me. It's on you. You'll be responsible for your own welfare." she said sternly.

Tadashi nodded, looking down.

"And besides, I feel like you've already gotten what you deserved." she smirked. She tossed him a menu. "Get some!" she chuckled and went back to work. Tadashi slapped his face.

He trudged upstairs after his shift. He found Hiro dangling upside down on his chair. "I heard there's a cardigan sale by fifth street. You might want to look into it." he said, spinning the chair.

Tadashi raised his brow at his brother. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Well, you're going to have to replace that cardigan you vomited all over." he chuckled, propping himself back up and clicking on a file on his social media page. The video of him barfing on Honey was posted online by Fred. Tadashi groaned and threw himself on the bed. He'll never hear the end of this.

"You're so purtyyyy!" Hiro mimicked. He threw a pillow at his brother, missing by a fraction. It hit Mochi, the poor thing. The fat cat hissed at him, tail all ruffled and bound for downstairs.

"No seriously, you need to replace that. How will you ever win her heart if you don't?"

"Who said I'm trying to win her heart?" he said, voice muffled by the pillow his head was currently buried in.

"Come on Tadashi, even an idiot can tell that you're infatuated with her. She's the first thing you tell me about the moment you get home. You get extremely pouty when she kisses me. She's the only person you send smileys to. You're an open book bro, with her name the only thing written on it." he rolled his hair beside his brother's bed.

"How'd you know that she's the only person I send smileys to?" Tadashi raised his head and frowned.

The other Hamada began to look flustered, "Lucky guess? Anyway the point is, she'll never be yours if you keep waiting on the sidelines, man." he ruffled his brother's hair. For the first time in his life, it was Hiro giving the advice.

"You know why women play so hard to get?" Hiro asked, prompting his brother for an answer.

"Oh and you know?" Tadashi quirked his mouth skeptically.

"Simply because she has worth! Because she deserves to be loved the way she wants to be loved. She wants to see if you're worth her time, effort and affection. She wants to see if you'll stick out even if she's in her worst. She wants to see if you can make her laugh, or can make her cry, or to FEEL in general. She wants to see if you'll understand her. If you'll stay up at 2AM as she does her thesis. If you'll watch reruns of Breaking Bad with her, if you'll let her read Shakespeare to you, if you can talk about philosophy together, or the truth of social construction, or llamas. If you can hold a good conversation when there's nothing left to talk about. She wants to see if you'll come back after two years of breaking up. If you'll pop the question in the most special way. If you'll be a good dad, if you'll survive through a midlife crisis. If you'll love her still when you're old and grey and all your kids have grown up. If you'll hold each other on your death bed and look into each other's eyes like you were just 17 again and tell each other "You were so worth it. You were worth everything." Hiro exclaimed, sounding extremely out of character.

"Wow Nicholas Sparks. Never thought you had that side of you." Tadashi was genuinely surprised.

"What can I say? I'm a heartbreaker." Hiro smirked, proudly leaning back and placing both his hands on the nape of his neck.

"Right, heartbreaker. You don't think I know about your thing for GoGo?" Tadashi grinned, propping himself on his elbows.

That seemed to tear down his brother's arrogant countenance. "W-what about her? I don't care." he defended, rolling himself away back to his computer. He played video games and started hollering "Wooh! New High Score!"

Tadashi rolled his eyes and got up. He walked over to his little brother any gave him the biggest noogie to date.

"Hey! Stop it! Tadashi! I'm in the middle of a winning streak!" the other protested, failing to push off his older brother.

He chuckled. Giving him one last noogie before grabbing his jacket and his helmet.

"Where you going?" Hiro grumbled, rubbing his crown.

"Off to check that sale. You'll never know, they might have mens wear too." he smirked and hopped down to the living room. He was about to go out the house when he spotted Mochi on the couch growling at him and thumping his furry tail on the throw pillow.

He smiled and crouched down and picked up the family cat. "Oh Mochi, I'm sorry. I never should have done those mean things before. You don't deserve that. You're a cat, a good one actually. All you want is to be petted and loved. What's wrong with that?" he snuggled to the cat's fur. He walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a biscuit. "I love you Mochi, so much. And I'm going to work hard and put a lot of effort to deserve your love. I swear on it." he professed to the bewildered cat.

"But for now, here's a biscuit." he said, placing the cat and the biscuit on the floor. He petted the purring animal one last time before heading out the door. The cold breeze filled him with renewed vigour.

"I swear on it, Honey Lemon. I'll prove to you that I deserve you. I swear on it."


	11. The Signseeker Part VI

He took a deep breath and adjusted his stance once more. Tadashi clutched the fluffy, knitted, peach cardigan on his arm. He felt the smooth surface of the letter that he placed in the pocket. He figured that he's not the best at expressing his emotions. And words might tumble out the wrong way. He didn't trust his speech skills for such an important confession. So he wrote it down. Every little detail. Every single thought. No more hiding things. No more sign seeking. He had to take matters in his own hands or he'll let time pass by him again.

Just like what he's doing right now, passing time thinking out grammar and syntax.

He's checked and proofread that letter for the umpteenth time. It was high time he gathered his wits and delivered this to her.

He knocked on Honey's apartment.

A well-built man only clothed in a towel answered the door. Okay, this was not Honey's apartment. Great, he'd been standing outside the wrong apartment for thirty minutes.

"Oh hey!" the man said. "What brings you here Get Some?" Confusion washed over Tadashi.

"You may not remember me," he held out his hand to shake. "I'm Mark."

Tadashi didn't know how he did. He didn't know how it happened or why. He just did. He just punched Mark and ran. Ran all the way down the building never looking back. He ran to his moped and drove and drove with no destination in mind. He didn't check the green lights, nor Professor Plaint waving at him, he just found himself in his lab. With no memories of how he got there.

* * *

Honey rolled the dog-eared note in her hand once again. She plopped down on her bed and rolled into the comforter until she was covered like a burrito. Thinking about Tadashi was more tiring than trying to find a solvent that was more universal than water. (her current pet project was to discover the ultimate solvent).

She rolled out and held the note above her, inspecting his handwriting and the way it curved awkwardly yet endearingly to her perspective. She has smelled it, and felt it, and observed it so diligently for the past hour that she could probably tell you the complete chemical make up of the paper in her hand.

She thought that maybe she'll give this betting with the Universe another chance. She knew she only had one more to bet one. If she loses, she'll have to tear this note and the rest of her hopes for something more than a friendship with Tadashi. If she wins, then she'll have to revel in the puddle of mixed feelings and confusion a little more. In a sense, it was a win-win situation, either way it'll be for the best.

She still wanted to win though, What was the thing that Tadashi would never, ever, ever do in a million years? She had a light bulb moment.

Tadashi Hamada would never, ever, ever, hurt someone physically on purpose. That man is hell-bent on preventing violence of all sorts, and healing those who are victimised. That's the very reason as to why he created Baymax. He wanted to help a lot of people and ensure their safety.

"Aiko!" he called.

"Yes hermano?" she answered back.

"Where do you keep your ice cubes?" he said.

"They're in the fridge, duh." she said getting up to retrieve the ice out years of developed habit.

She found him in the kitchen, one hand trying to get the cubes out of the container, the other covering his eye.

"What happened?" she rushed towards him and pried away his hand. He had a blossoming bruise just below the eye area. Good thing it missed or she'd have to hunt down the culprit and teach him a little bit about aim.

"Your boyfriend dropped by." he said. She furrowed her brows.

"Y'know. The Get Some dude."

She gasped.

"It was kind of my fault too. I opened the door with only a towel. I was thinking he assumed the worst." he shrugged. "Came to bring you that." he pointed to a peach cardigan slung on the armrest of the sofa. She numbly walked over and picked up the soft fabric. A piece of paper fell out.

Her brother grabbed the whole ice tray placed it on his face. "Seriously, how will mama and papa react when when I fly back home and tell them that you've started dating not just a drunk, but a violent drunk one at that." he shook his head and went back to the guest room.

That was it. She's lost her bet.


	12. Love, In The Platonic Sense

Tadashi clicked his pen for what seemed like the umpteenth time during this whole study session. He stared as his _study buddy_ bit her lip at an equation she's been writing yet again. She scribbled furiously before scratching it out with a frustrated groan. She leaned back on her chair and slumped with a whimper escaping her lips. Tadashi nudged her foot with his own under the table.

"Hey," he comforted his _friend_ , "Come on, you need to take a break."

He bounced off his chair and walked towards her small kitchen. Tadashi found pride in the fact that he knows his way around like it's his own.. He got her stash of peppermint tea at the top left corner cabinet right beside the Christmas mugs. He hooked a foot on the lower cabinet where her small spoons were. He plugged the water heater at the bottom socket because the top sparked since he plugged Baymax's charger there once in one of their all nighters. With pronounced ease he prepared the exact blend of tea he knew she loved with the precision of a _friend_ who knew her inside out. He leaned back and watched Honey wallow in the pages of her book while the water boiled.

He was her friend. No, he was her best friend (he hoped, if no other human would agree to buying her tampons if she can't leave the house). She was most definitely his best friend, none can deny that. Bottomline is, for the majority of their lives, it has always been platonic. Painfully platonic. It doesn't matter if she cuddles between his legs on her couch whenever they watch the Star Wars trilogy again. It doesn't matter if he strips butt naked in front of her as they change for school. It doesn't matter if Aunt Cass already set up Honey's clothes in Tadashi's closet and her toothbrush beside his back at the cafe. Honey and he shall be perpetually, just platonic.

Sighing, he pushed the off button before it lighted red knowing that she hated scalding her tongue.

He wondered how they've gotten here. There was a project once back in grade school where they were asked to write where they see themselves in twenty years. Honey Lemon was there in every paragraph, in every line, in every sentence. She was what came up to his mind when one would ask him who he envisions to be his wife someday. And that image hasn't changed since. Perhaps it took root from the innocence of childhood—how hugging and cuddling and _touching_ in general was deemed platonic in children, that's why she's gotten to used to it— but as respectable adults, it just seemed like he was doing all the responsibilities of a boyfriend without getting the benefits of one.

He shook his head at the thought of how deep in he must be in the friend zone. Someday, Honey will find a man that can't love her half as much as he did. And she'll think he's the one. And someday he'll find her cuddled up with him on her couch as he sits by at the other end just because he's the _best friend._

He felt a pair of slim arms wrap around his waist and a button nose nuzzle the back of his shoulder. Exactly what he'd been elaborating in his head earlier.

"I smelled the tea."

"I know you did, you can't resist me." he chuckled sadly. After knowing Tadashi since childhood, she knew there was a matter of glumness in his tone. She tugged on his waist, urging him to face her.

"Don't even bother telling me you're okay. Spill it." she looked up at him.

"Spill what?" he cocked an eyebrow, taking a sip at her teacup.

"Don't spill what me, Hamada. I know something is up with you." she said, taking her tea from his hand and gingerly nursing it between her fingers.

"Nothing is up with me." his mouth quirked, taking his own cup and smiling at her with tired eyes.

She frowned at that. Pursing her lips as she leaned on the kitchen island across him. He knitted their toes together while sipping his tea. He reached for the side of the refrigerator and took out the rest of the chocolate cake from yesterday. Grabbing a fork, he pushed off the counter to lean into her, one arm supporting his weight on the counter his other balanced the two slices of cake on a plate. She placed her head on the crook of his shoulder out of habit. _There she goes again._

"Tell you what, if you finish your cake first, I'll spill."

Honey gave him a bewildered look and he used that to his advantage by shoving the slice in his mouth. She quickly caught on and started stuffing her face with cake as well. In an effort to win, he shoved his entire piece in his mouth and grabbed the rest of her and made a run for it.

"Can't finish your slice now, can you?" he sputtered, mouth full of cake. Tadashi jumped on her couch, nesting on it like a hawk. She protested below him, cheeks all puffed up in cake.

"Tadashi I swear, I'm not afraid to push you off!" she stomped, barely able to speak.

"Oh yeah? Prove it!"

And that was all it took for him to be tackled to the floor with her straddling him. She had a wild look as she reached for the crumbled cake and ate it off his hand. He revelled in the feeling of her mouth around his fingers, he'd like to feel that more often.

It was down to a battle of chewing. The first one to swallow wins. Honey Lemon planted her hands on his chest and narrowed her eyes at him as she chewed the food in her mouth furiously, even if it did make her look like a deranged animal. It's not like they weren't twenty one year olds rolling around on the floor on a lopsided food eating contest.

She swallowed first. He let her.

"Aha! I win. Now spill."

He was still chewing, albeit leisurely now. He placed a hand on her hip as a sign to wait. She didn't seem to mind the intimate gesture. He finally swallowed.

Taking a deep breath— for the confession and his hurting throat— he spilled.

"I was thinking how much I love how we're so platonic. Even if I'm practically your boyfriend—no, your husband, with all that we've been doing."

She gave him an incredulous look. Tadashi can't believe that this moment was where all his years of platonic relationship lead up to.

"That's it? I wrestled you for that?"

He bit his lip—hurt that she reacted the way she did. The way Honey Lemon always would. She degraded his feelings—feelings that have in fact been pent-up for years. He was sick of it. Absolutely sick of it.

"Why? Do you think what we have is platonic?" he spoke up. Honey noted the tone of a challenge in his voice. There was hurt there too. Unable to look straight into his eyes, she turned away.

"If someone walked into this room right now and see us, would they think we're platonic. You're straddling me in your pyjamas while I'm in my boxers and you think this is platonic?"

She gulped.

"I'm so tired, Aiko. Tired of pretending that there's nothing here." he pushed.

"Tadashi— I

In truth she didn't know what to tell him, or how. There was just too much history between them.

"What? Could you tell me right now, to my face, that you don't love me. If you can say that right now, I swear, I'll let it go. I won't ever bring up the topic ever again." he declared. There was a almost violent beating in his chest. An anxiety that couldn't be quelled with anything but her words.

His heart clenched when she couldn't reply to him. It spurned his anger even further.

With an almost frenzied manner, he kissed her. He kissed with all the fervour he'd been wanting to since he met her. Tadashi knew that this wasn't how he wanted to reveal his feelings. He knew that this could very well end as a nightmare for the both of them.

Until he suddenly felt it. Her hands weaving into his hair like how he'd always imagined. Her lips pressing back with as much ardour. Her body curling into his as she kissed him. She _kissed_ him. Back.

They stayed there for who knows how long, just lingering in the shade of the night, enjoying each other's company in a whole other light. Finally Tadashi broke away—he still had a point to make.

"Now did you think that was platonic?" he murmured, a little breathless.

His spine was tingling, his hands a bit shaky, the world was spinning and the point of intersection was her. Innately her. Hers all along. It was her.

She muttered something incoherent, a little smile tugging on the sides of her lips and his heart leapt with joy.  
He tucked a loose lock of her golden hair behind her shoulder and kissed the skin that was revealed to him. He'd always wanted to kiss her there. It's not like it hasn't been accessible, on the contrary, it was a tease for him. To know that he could get so close and yet he couldn't _touch_.

He released his meanderings and breathed on her skin, feeling her shiver reverberate to his hands. It made him deliriously happy. "How about that? Was that platonic?"

She shook her head a little. Tadashi allowed his hands to travel down her back like he has done so for the past thirteen years, but none so as leisurely as he did now.

"Can I ask if this is platonic?" she whispered and kissed the length from his ear to his jawline and latched on to the hollow of his neck. Tadashi hadn't meant to, but he groaned.

"Yeah that's very platonic. Friends do that all the time." he struggled to create coherent sentences with all the emotions swirling inside him.

She leaned on her elbows and smiled at him.

"You know Tadashi, I love how we're so platonic."

"I love how we're so platonic too, Honey."

* * *

A/N: Hello! Thank you so much for reviewing! Especially to my regulars! You guys motivate me so much. Here's a little fic before the end of The Signseeker Series. I have another multi-chap coming up! But I guess I'll make one-shots before that. Bye now!


	13. The Signseeker Part VII

He paced back and forth in his lab. She could've at least informed them. She could've at least told him to back off. She shouldn't have lead him on like a deranged lovesick halfwit. He gripped the end of his desk, he was fuming. Normally, he'd never let anger like this fester for too long, but that encounter was just too much. He was naked. And now Tadashi couldn't look at Honey without thinking that she does things with her boyfriend when she gets home.

He thought about all his little attempts to woo her in the past. Like coffee, and letters, and smileys and he felt like a fourth grader compared to her boyfriend.

Her boyfriend. Her boyfriend. He can't even say his name.

And he punched someone. He actually punched someone. He didn't know whether he was more angry about his disappointment or his actions. What ever happened to never hurting people? Of healing injuries and curing diseases? Of Baymax?

He flings his hat and runs his hand through his hair.

He felt the familiar clenching in his throat and the bitter sting of tears behind his eyes. Tadashi bit the insides of his cheek and willed himself not to cry.

This wasn't her fault. Not one bit. Because you should never blame a girl for not liking you. And honestly, he saw why she didn't.

There came a great thump behind him.

There she was. Honey bursts through his lab door and comes up to him with a rage that equals his. "How dare you?!" she yelled, enraged at his action. "You come up to my apartment and suddenly hit people?! Is that a thing with you now? Getting drunk and starting a fight? I don't even know who you are." she accused, jabbing a finger at his chest.

Great. She comes barrelling in here defending him. He wouldn't blame her, he was the jerk in this story. Honey had teartracks on her cheeks, he can tell. He's never seen her angry, but now he knew the consequences of his actions.

"You don't know me? More like I don't know you! You're the one numb one who doesn't—

Her phone beeped.

Tadashi bit his lip, slightly thankful that something stopped him from saying awful things. "Go answer it."

She breathed heavily, glaring at him before picking up her phone.

"Hey Aiko, before you go storming into Get Some's lab. You need to know that he left a little love note here for you." her brother said, his voice sounded like he was smiling. "It's disgustingly sweet and on the brink of corny but it's heart felt, I'll give him that." he chuckled.

"What?" she uttered.

"Do you want me to read it out loud for you?" he said. "Hey Honey. I'm really sorry for your cardigan. I hope you like peach. Shades of pink always looked good on you. Anyway, where do I begin? I guess I'll start with I love you. More than you know. Okay that came off a little too much but I'm tired of sitting here and waiting. I need to tell you straight. I love you, Honey Lemon. With a passion that scared even myself.

I'm going to quote Descartes okay. Because I know we're both fans of his work. Remember that time in class where Professor Robinson quoted this, and we both gave each other a knowing look? He said: In order to determine whether we can know anything with certainty, we first have to doubt everything we know.

And you made me do exactly that, Honey Lemon. There were times when I thought, how in the world is this girl able to make me feel all these emotions all at once without even batting an eyelash?

You have this power over me with just simply being you. And that's what amazes me every time I see you. You're the most intelligent and brilliant girl I've ever met. You're so passionate about your love for chemistry and you find the beauty in science that only few people do. And drunk me wasn't lying when he said you're so pretty. And he's barely able to speak in his sad inebriated state. Sober me would tell you, you're the most breath-taking woman on this planet. You can cook, and you can bake, you play the piano like it's just breathing. I never thought I'd find another person as obsessed with Star Wars as I am, but you do. You can quote Neruda in a heartbeat, you talk about social constructs and how the world would be a better place if people just help other people. You run your own online store and you have the most colour coordinated Instagram feed that I've ever seen. You can do a double handspring with ease. You've published a book on chemistry, and I once found your name in the references of one of Hiro's papers. You volunteer for cancer kids, and knit sweaters for them with little cats on it. You discovered a whole other element for god's sake, and you did it all in heels.

And I can't believe that after knowing all that, I've fallen in love more with the woman that I see at 3am in the morning holed up in her lab clutching a latte in her hand. I love her the most when she tells me all her insecurities and doubts. And I love it when she laughs when I say that I don't get how she doesn't see her own perfection. I love her when she cries about her television shows. I love her when she leans her head on my shoulder in the car. I love it when she shares her music with me and I just know that it's not just the song she's sharing but a bit of her soul too. I think about how I'm so lucky to ever even talk to her. I love her so much. And I'm far from deserving her but I'll give my damn best to be the man that she deserves.

I'll work hard, Honey Lemon. Someday I'll be enough. I swear on it. I want to be the man that holds you and keeps you steady. I want to kiss you when you're tired and sleep deprived from your thesis. I want to know exactly how you like your coffee only to see you smile when you drink. I want to be able to point to you and tell Hiro: That's Honey Lemon. She doesn't know it yet but she's going to be my wife someday. I want to have kids with you and grow old with you and eat oatmeal with you because that's all our doctor allowed us in our old age.

I love you Honey Lemon. Beyond all the combined energy of the stars in the Universe. And that's a lot. Coming from someone who actually took Astrophysics, I know that's a whole lot of energy to live up to. But I've always beat the Universe in one way or another.

I have the Universe to thank for you, actually.

You're my syzygy, Honey Lemon. I bet you already know that. I'm sorry again for your cardigan. And whatever hurt or confusion I've dealt. I know where my heart lies in the Universe now. It's with you.

Okay that line was a bit cheesy for a conclusion. The Chaos of Stars would fully encapsulate what I'd mean.

I'd chose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd choose you."

Honey Lemon swallowed the lump in her throat. "He… said that?"

"Yup. That boy's crazy in love with you." Mark chuckled, shaking his head. Their parents would be thrilled.

"He is?"

Tadashi stared at her. She had this look on her face, like she's dazed.

"Okay bye." she hung up with the other person on the phone. "You were saying." she continued, a little breathless.

He collected his thoughts for a moment. It surprised him that all the pent up anger seemed to have withered away in the silence. He took a deep breath and tried to think of whatever was surfacing in his mind.

"I— I said, I don't like it that you're picky with your food. And how it takes hours for you to choose something to watch. And it annoys me how your hair gets into my face when you hug me. And—

His phone rang. "Go ahead." she said, with what seemed like a hint of a smile on her face.

It was from an unsaved number. He answered it.

"We got off on the wrong foot. I'm Mark. And I've read your letter to my little sister. You're quite the poet, I'd say. Don't worry, I won't tell our parents that you hit me or that the first time I met you, you barfed on my sister's lap. Just make sure that you'll be the one I'll be handing Aiko to on her wedding day, got that Get Some?"

"Yes Sir." he gulped numbly.

"She loves you too. You're all she ever talked about to the family during her breaks. They're all very excited to meet you someday."

Tadashi felt like he was suffocating.

"Nice to meet you, Tadashi." he chuckled then hung up.

Tadashi stared into Honey's green eyes. He felt like all his insides caved upon him he's practically weightless.

"As I was s—saying, I hate how you're so goddamned beautiful and smart, it's unfair. And the way you make me feel inside, all tingly and weird and it—

"I love you too, Tadashi Hamada." she declared, before taking a stride and kissing him, cradling his face in her hands. He, on the other end, with all the rightness and denouement of the Universe, slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her with all the love he had to offer.

Syzygy they called it. The alignment of the planets in the Universe at the most opportune moment. When it happens, they say you'll get this feeling inside of you, like your senses are suddenly hyper aware of all the stimuli surrounding you. Like a sponge, soaking in all the sensations that the Universe offers. Like you're stuck in a meditative trance, receiving all the pleasure and pain alike. Whatever power controlled their lives; whether it was a higher being or the unique combination of their molecules; whether it was the left over cosmic waves from the Big Bang, or the product of simple daily occurrences; whether this was real or just the fabrication of someone else's imagination. It doesn't matter. It was about time they stopped questioning the Universe. It knows exactly when, how, and why things happen.

It just does.

And like that, suddenly, it'll all make sense. 

* * *

A/N: I haven't gotten to thanking all youu guys who read my fics. Thank you so much for supporting this! Just knowing that people read these keep me writing.  
This is the last chapter for The Signseeker but don't worry, there'll be more ficlets to follow!


	14. It Was Then I Knew

He'd been waiting.

He felt his knees shaking from all the weight of his age and decided to sit by the stone bench under the cherry blossom. Sora's parents were away for the week, and gladly, he took the little boy in. He needed the excitement in his life, even if it meant following a hyperactive little toddler around the living room. Tadashi took in the breeze and smiled.

He was waiting.

"Grampa!" came a voice from his right. There was Sora, all teary-eyed and tripping over his own two feet. The child ran to him and hugged him tightly. Tadashi was briefly reminded of Hiro at his age, running to him for protection.

"What's wrong, Sora?" he embraced him back.

"I want to go home!" he bellowed, sobbing into his chest. Tadashi decided not to pry further, knowing the boy was already as overwhelmed as he was. At the corner of his eye, he spotted some other children snickering. He threw them a dirty look. He didn't look as intimidating as he was in his prime but he figured it still worked when the kids stopped snickering and looked back at their lunches.

He sighed. "Come along, Sora." he stood up albeit slowly. "Walk with me?" he smiled, offering his hand to the wide eyed child. Sora took it then, fitfully wiping away his tears.

They walked around San Fransokyo till he stopped crying. They've reached the hills that curved around the patches of forest. He kicked a few rocks and picked a few flowers and Tadashi knew the boy was okay now. He ran ahead with his arms spread beside him like an airplane. He did a full turn and ran back to his grandfather. Sora took his hand and started walking with him again.

"Grampa, mom always says I look like granny." he mumbled, twisting a flower in his hand. "What was granny like?" he asked, looking up at him with familiar green eyes.

Tadashi was somehow amused with the little boy. They've finally reached a small curve by the road that overlooked San Fransokyo. It was a busy city but from up here, where the skies kissed the breeze ever so gently, everything seemed serene. They sat down on a patch of grass on a slope that cars don't pass by often.

"I bet granny was awesome! Was she smart like you, grampa?" he continued, uprooting a few of the sprouts and blowing them to the wind.

Tadashi took in a deep breath. "Why were you crying a while ago, Sora?"

The boy pulled his knees in and scrunched up his nose. He forcefully threw the crumpled blades of grass in his hand to the ground. "Some of the kids made fun of me 'cause I made a boat." he grumbled.

"You made a boat? What kind of a boat?" Tadashi grinned. An inner sense of pride swelling in his chest.

"A boat that could fly." Sora mused.

"Isn't that a plane?" he chuckled.

"That's the thing, it flies but it looks like a boat. Aero dynamo something something. I changed it." he said offhandedly, a hint of a smile in his chubby cheeks. "but then Jacob came and he threw it out the window. It flew of course, but I'll never see it again. Then they made fun of me, they called me…a… something. But I know it's bad." he pouted, playing with his toes distractedly.

Tadashi looked at the city and sighed. He was very fond of his only grandchild. The boy was more precious to him than anyone else. He smiled and took off his cap and placed it on the boy's head. It swallowed his small crown and he looked up and grinned.

"You are a little me after all. I thought you took so much from your dad." he laughed. The boy laughed and readjusted the cap so that it'd fit him. "I was very much like you. The kids back in school bullied me too because I didn't have a mom and dad like the others did. And I ate rice." he smiled; it was nice to reminisce once in a while.

"Really?" the boy stared at him in shock. "But grampa, you were the one who protected Grampa Hiro when you were kids right?"

"Yes I did. Your gramps did get bullied a lot. But that was before I met your granny. Without her, I never would've gained the courage to stand up for myself." he smiled and closed his eyes. "You really want to hear the story? It'll be romantic and yucky." he chuckled.

"Nah, I can handle that." Sora pursed his lips and puffed out his chest.

"Very well. I'll tell you."

—-

The swings were surprisingly empty this lunch hour. All the kids were crowding over the new spaceship playlet on the other side of the field. Tadashi sat on the swing and smiled a little, if not to hide his happiness. He'd been wanting to play there since his first day here in San Fransokyo Elementary last week. But these kids from the upper class called it theirs and wouldn't let him play on it. They all spoke in another weird language; Aunt Cass called it English. Tadashi didn't know what was wrong with his.

He sighed and opened his bento, there was a panda made up of rice and sushi for ears. Tadashi sorely wished he was back in Japan where all his friends were. Sadly, he pushed on his feet to move the swing and began to eat. The tears were collecting on his eyes but he stopped them from dropping.

He heard heavy footsteps running towards him. The kids were running towards him again. There was this boy that didn't look young enough to be in the first grade, he was twice as tall as Tadashi. He was angrily screaming at him something he couldn't understand. There were two other kids behind him, one was lanky and the other was a scary looking girl with yellow hair. The large boy was still screaming at him and Tadashi felt like cowering but his body wouldn't move. The large boy stomped towards him and frowned.

He said another thing with a tone that sounded like he was warning Tadashi. He felt a force on his chest and his back collided with the ground. He heard his bento box clatter on the cement. From the ground, the shadows of the other students crowding around him shielded him from the blinding sun. They were laughing, all of them. The lanky kid flanking the larger one took his rice and held it up and showed the other students. They laughed even harder. The lanky boy snickered and took his bento. Tadashi curled in ball as he felt his food being thrown at him. The tears flooded his vision, and he felt nauseous, a churning in his stomach. He was fighting the sob in his throat causing a painful clenching. He felt like he was suffocating.

He heard a girl's shrill shout that broke away from the laughing mess. He heard the large boy scream as well. There was a clicking of heels and he heard the teacher's voice scold the bullies. The voices got farther and farther and farther away. Finally, he let the sob out. He cried, cried out all the pain he felt inside, clutching his stomach and letting his face hit the floor.

He felt a gentle hand on his back and another shadow in front of him. The girl spoke in another language, a comforting tone in her voice. She kneeled and Tadashi saw a curtain of blonde hair cover him. Still he sobbed again and again, repeating that he wanted to go home again and again, in the hopes that the ground would swallow him up.

"I want to go home." he sobbed again and again. He did not expect the girl to understand him. She was like those English speakers.

"I know. It's alright, they're gone."

He looked up. No, she wasn't Japanese at all. She looked like them, although more tan. She had a large green eyes and a small nose. Tadashi gaped, she was really pretty.

"I'm Aiko." the side of her mouth quirked. She helped him up and sat him down on the swing. She dug through her yellow backpack and got out a pink shirt.

"This is my extra shirt but you can sneeze into this." she handed him the shirt.

Tadashi realized that his snot was oozing down his face, mixing with the tears.

"I— I can't." he blushed, about to wipe them away with his forearm.

"Don't! That's nasty!" she urged, taking his face in her hand and wiping with her shirt. Tadashi could only look up in wonder. Only his mother held him like that.

"You should never let Buford push you around like that. He only bullies you because he's jealous that the teachers favour you over him." her brows knitted. She held the shirt to his nose. "Blow."

He took that as a cue to sneeze into the cloth.

"There." she stepped back and grinned. She folded the shirt carefully and tucked it back in her bag. They heard the bell rang and looked back to the classroom. Tadashi felt his heartbeat pacing back up at the thought of confronting the kids again.

"Come on!" she said. Tadashi felt a warm hand in his. He looked at the girl—Aiko— there was a wild grin on her face. "It's P.E. for the rest of the afternoon anyway. I know somewhere we can go."

She tugged on his hand. He, in an almost dazed manner, followed her along.

They stole away through the busy streets of San Fransokyo, through hills and and buildings. Tadashi didn't know his way well enough but with the look of the greenery surrounding him, they were at the outskirts of the busy city.

They sat on a patch of grass beside the road. A tourist spot meant for overlooking the great city of San Fransokyo. She pulled out a cat shaped lunch box and opened it. The smell of food wafted his senses.

"I still have an apple and a juice box left. Here, you must be hungry."

It was then that he knew.

"It was then that I knew."


End file.
